Bacon's Rebellion was likely about the most puzzling yet intriguing chapters in Jamestown's history. For a number of years, historians regarded as the Virginia Rebellion of 1676 to be the very first stirring of revolutionary sentiment in America, which culminated inside the American Revolution nearly exactly one hundred years later. However, in the past couple of decades, established on discoveries from a additional distant viewpoint, historians have come to understand Bacon's Rebellion as a power struggle in between two stubborn, selfish leaders in preference to a glorious fight against tyranny.
The central figures in Bacon's Rebellion were opposites. Governor Sir William Berkeley, seventy when the crisis began, was a veteran of the English Civil Wars, a frontier Indian fighter, a King's preferred in his first term as Governor within the 1640's, and also a playwright and scholar. His name and reputation as Governor of Virginia were properly respectable. Berkeley's antagonist, young Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., was essentially Berkeley's cousin by marriage. Lady Berkeley, Frances Culpeper, was Bacon's cousin. Bacon was a troublemaker and schemer whose father sent him to Virginia in the hope that he would mature. Although disdainful of labor, Bacon was intelligent and eloquent. Upon Bacon's arrival, Berkeley treated his young cousin with respect and friendship, giving him each a substantial land grant as well as a seat on the council in 1675.
Bacon's Rebellion may be attributed to a vast amount of causes, all of which led to dissent in the Virginia colony. Economic problems, such as declining tobacco costs, growing commercial competition from Maryland along with the Carolinas, an increasingly restricted English industry, and also the rising costs from English manufactured goods (mercantilism) caused issues for the Virginians. There had been heavy English losses in the most recent series of naval wars using the Dutch and, closer to house, there were many problems caused by weather. Hailstorms, floods, dry spells, and hurricanes rocked the colony all in the course of a year and had a damaging impact on the colonists. These difficulties encouraged the colonists to find a scapegoat against whom they might vent their frustrations and place the blame for their misfortunes.
The colonists discovered their scapegoat in the form of the local Indians. The trouble began in July 1675 with a raid by the Doeg Indians on the plantation of Thomas Mathews, located in the Northern Neck section of Virginia near the Potomac River. Many of the Doegs were killed inside the raid, which began in a dispute over the nonpayment of some items Mathews had apparently obtained from the tribe. The situation became crucial when, in a retaliatory strike by the colonists, they attacked the wrong Indians, the Susquehanaugs, which caused large scale Indian raids to begin.
To avert future attacks and to bring the situation under control, Governor Berkeley ordered an investigation into the matter. He set up what was to be a disastrous meeting among the parties, which resulted in the murders of various tribal chiefs. All through the crisis, Berkeley continually pleaded for restraint from the colonists. Some, including Bacon, refused to listen. Nathaniel Bacon disregarded the Governor's direct orders by seizing some friendly Appomattox Indians for "allegedly" stealing corn. Berkeley reprimanded him, which triggered the disgruntled Virginians to wonder which man had taken the right action. It was here the battle lines were about to be drawn.
A distant problem was Berkeley's attempt to find a compromise. Berkeley's policy was to preserve the friendship and loyalty of the subject Indians while assuring the settlers that they weren't hostile. To meet his initial objective, the Governor relieved the local Indians of their powder and ammunition. To deal with the second objective, Berkeley called the "Long Assem
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